Obama's approval numbers on economy at record low

A couple of things leap out at you in this CBS poll. First, Obama's core support has been fairly steady - between 40-44% for the last year. This despite the fact that the poll also shows extreme unhappiness with the job Obama is doing on the economy.And one potentially worrisome stat: independents may slowly be coming home for Obama. 47% of indies disapprove of the job he's doing which is up from the low to mid 50's he was polling for much of the year. His approval from indies, which was in the low to mid 30's, has jumped to 39%. We see this narrowing of the indie gap in generic polling for congress as well.

The independent vote was always going to narrow as left of center indies came home, so it is not cause for immediate concern. The GOP still holds a nice 5-7 point lead in the generic congressional vote and the top three GOP candidates poll competitively against Obama nationwide.

President Obama's ratings on the the most important issue for his re-election -- the economy -- have posted the weakest showing of his presidency, according to a poll released Friday by CBS News.

About 60 percent of voters said they disapprove of Mr. Obama's handling of the economy, the highest on record. Just 34 percent approve of the job he is doing on the matter.

His overall approval ratings are just 43 percent, while 47 percent disapprove of the job he is doing as president.

Among independents, just 39 percent are satisfied with his performance, while 76 percent of Democrats and 12 percent of Republicans approve of his job performance.

A couple of things leap out at you in this CBS poll. First, Obama's core support has been fairly steady - between 40-44% for the last year. This despite the fact that the poll also shows extreme unhappiness with the job Obama is doing on the economy.

And one potentially worrisome stat: independents may slowly be coming home for Obama. 47% of indies disapprove of the job he's doing which is up from the low to mid 50's he was polling for much of the year. His approval from indies, which was in the low to mid 30's, has jumped to 39%. We see this narrowing of the indie gap in generic polling for congress as well.

The independent vote was always going to narrow as left of center indies came home, so it is not cause for immediate concern. The GOP still holds a nice 5-7 point lead in the generic congressional vote and the top three GOP candidates poll competitively against Obama nationwide.

President Obama's ratings on the the most important issue for his re-election -- the economy -- have posted the weakest showing of his presidency, according to a poll released Friday by CBS News.

About 60 percent of voters said they disapprove of Mr. Obama's handling of the economy, the highest on record. Just 34 percent approve of the job he is doing on the matter.

His overall approval ratings are just 43 percent, while 47 percent disapprove of the job he is doing as president.

Among independents, just 39 percent are satisfied with his performance, while 76 percent of Democrats and 12 percent of Republicans approve of his job performance.